Projects in the News

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Every week Kickstarter and dozens of Kickstarter projects get a little shine in the press. We thought we'd begin to share a bit of the good news. Here's a look at some of the best press from last week:

The Wall Street Journal's "All Things D" posted a story suggesting that "Consumers won’t pay for recorded music in the future — but fans will pay for music experiences." They went on to explain the success of the patronage model, noting that "In the Elizabethan era, artists were supported by wealthy patrons; we’re headed back toward that world," and "recently, Nataly Dawn from Pomplamoose used a Kickstarter campaign to fund her forthcoming solo album."

PBS' "Media Shift" blog published a post entitled "How a Novelist Bypassed His Publisher and Raised $11,000 on Kickstarter," exploring creator Tim Pratt's project and journey "to connect with his fan base and get funding directly from them, with donations and a Kickstarter campaign that kept his series alive."

BoingBoing called creator Rick Dakan's Geek Mafia project "brilliant" and quoted him, saying: "Mob Rules Games is a small, indie-startup founded on the core idea that we should develop both the game and the community of players at the same time, and that the two should work together as much as possible."

The Dot, developed by New York-based startup Kogeto.

Mashable posted about the latest with the Dot project "a hardware attachment for capturing panoramic video on the iPhone, starts shipping Tuesday after a short but storied development — one that began with the help of more than 1,000 backers on crowd-funding site Kickstarter in May. Dot will also land on Apple Store retail shelves nationwide starting Nov. 1."

The Arizona Republic reported on Phoenix comic-book artist (and Kickstarter project creator) Shawn Demumbrum who, "was hoping to raise $3,000 to publish a graphical salute to the music of the Smiths, the 1980s British rockers. In the tradition of underground comics, it was to be a mini-size book, with a handful of artists telling short stories inspired by their favorite songs. But fans of the band wanted more, and Demumbrum's Internet posting was greeted with a trans-Atlantic outpouring of enthusiasm to the tune of $14,789 pledged by 360 people, many of them in the Smiths' hometown of Manchester, England. It was nearly five times Demumbrum's goal, enough money to recruit more artists and expand the project into a full-size book with an initial run of 2,500 copies."

The Detroit Free Press published a story exploring a documentary about Detroit firefighters, which "is getting a famous champion" in Denis Leary, noting "'Burn,' which is produced and directed by Tom Putnam and Detroit native Brenna Sanchez, is seeking about $80,000" via Kickstarter to help with post-production.

The Modesto Bee wrotea feature proclaiming "The days of starving artists toiling in obscurity hoping for a patron may not be over, but raising money is getting easier thanks to the internet and the generosity of strangers. The latest fund-raising source for artistic types—writers, musicians, filmmakers and other—is the online site Kickstarter." They featured local artist Melissa Jaffray and her "Illuminated Manuscripts" project.

IndieWire published a post entitled "The 5 Smartest Financing Tips From the Film Independent Forum Crowdsourcing works," and suggested that filmmakers "Let the Crowd In" examining "films that raised half of their budget by using the platform Kickstarter. Motivated by an agreement with an equity investor who promised to provide matching funds, Jennifer Dubin, Cora Olson, and Jocelyn Towne raised $111,9565 for their feature 'I Am I' over 30 days. By working full time on the campaign, doing publicity and utilizing Twitter, the filmmakers were surprised to find they knew only 20% of their funders. Additionally, making the Kickstarter video and handling all the promotion for the campaign helped launch director Jocelyn Towne’s voice and built a fan base for her and the film. Said her producer, 'It was clear that she could do this movie and it would be awesome.'"

A graphic from Jimmy Palmiotti's comic, "Jonah Hex."

Science fiction blog io9 reported on their recent New York Comic-Con experience, where they "caught up with prolific comic book writer Jimmy Palmiotti, who told us all about his new projects — such as DC Comics' new weird cowpoke series All-Star Western — and what it's like to self-fund graphic novels using Kickstarter."

PC Worldposted a slideshow exploring what it takes to run a successful Kickstarter project, writing "There’s more to Kickstarter, the online pledge system for funding creative projects, than just posting an idea and hoping it explodes. A successful project takes detailed planning, realistic budgeting, and constant networking." Their suggestions, included: "1. Clear Thinking Prevails; 2. If You Fail to Plan…You Know the Rest; 3. Work Your Network; 4. Setting a Date; 5. Name Your Price; 6. Seeing is Believing; 7. The Work is (Not Always) the Reward Itself; 8. Keep Up With Updates, and 9. What Goes Around Comes Around."

Blog World published an extensive post entitled "How to Be Successful on Kickstarter" asserting 11 suggestions to help project creators succeed, including: "1. Create a project that is interesting and excites your audience; 2. Give away cool stuff in exchange for pledges, even small ones; 3. Create some limited packages; 4. Give people a reason to keep donating after the project is funded; 5. Make it a no-brainer to spend more; 6. Write kick-butt copy for your project; 7. Send emails; 8. Get some of your friends on board right away; 9. Social media it up; 10. Don’t apologize, and 11. Include a video."

Austin, TX-based Austinist reported on "a story that sounds straight out of the movies -- twin brothers living in one of the most politically unstable regions in the world strive to become filmmakers (never mind the fact they've never even seen a film at a theater)" and their project to create their first feature film, currently funding on Kickstarter.

The Onion's "A.V. Club Milwaukee" suggestedthat "the importance of WMSE 91.7 to Milwaukee’s music scene cannot be overstated. For over 30 years, the indie radio station has served as a musical tastemaker, and has tirelessly championed some of the city’s best bands.... In an effort to replace its outdated equipment, WMSE has turned to Kickstarter in hopes of raising $30,000."

Missouri'sColumbia Tribune reported on a few projects from the midwest, noting that "In 2009, a quasi-revolutionary phenomenon arrived on the Internet scene: Kickstarter, an online gathering place for creative project startups." They called Polina Malikin a "thoughtful, persistent documentarian, who "with the help of Kickstarter, was able to raise more than the requested $2,500 for putting together a short film."

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